Settling: Carolina Cortella + Patrick Dunford + Nick Gorham + Greta Waller

Nick Gorham’s abstracted landscapes operate in the space between perception and memory, evoking the subtle movement of light, atmosphere, and thought. His paintings are records of change, accumulations of color and gesture that chart the passage of time.  Gorham is a California-based artist who focuses on landscape and abstract painting. Often searching to merge these two modes of expression, he allows observational study and intuitive non-representation to inform one another.  Through linking these processes, commonalities are found between being in nature and searching within himself. Gorham was born in 1999 in San Francisco, and received a BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in 2023. Recent exhibitions include those at Et Al. (San Francisco, CA, 2025); MarinMOCA Annex (San Raphael, CA, 2024); and Steuben Gallery, the Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY, 2023). Gorham's work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Marin Independent Journal, and KQED.

Carolina Cortella mirrors the natural processes of erosion, oxidation, and growth through textured glazes and sculptural forms. Her work emphasizes the physicality of clay, celebrating its transformation from malleable earth to permanent object. Originally from Buenos Aires, Carolina Cortella continued her creative career in Los Angeles for over a decade. Her work has been featured in Artforum and exhibited in Los Angeles, Paris, and Buenos Aires. After completing her BFA in Film Direction from Fundacion Universidad del Cine and a career in filmmaking, Cortella felt the urge to experiment with tangible materials, as a way to continue her storytelling. She brings a cinematic sensibility to her practice, exploring the interplay of light, space, and form. Her works also often subtly reference the visuals of films that have inspired her. Her photography practice now runs alongside her ceramics, shaping her sense of composition, surface, and mood, translating images into form and using both mediums to tell tactile, visually-driven stories. Today, Cortella works from her studio in the hills of Mill Valley, hand-building contemporary ceramics that embrace imperfection, simplicity, and the quiet clarity of wabi-sabi philosophy.

Greta Waller’s luminous oil paintings of melting ice transform a vanishing subject into a study of light, color, and impermanence. Each work preserves the fleeting refractions and shifting forms that exist only for moments before dissolving. Waller was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1983, and earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Los Angeles, CA in 2011. In 2006, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York. From 2002 to 2004, Waller participated in a variety of summer and exchange programs including those at Chelsea College of Arts and Slade School of Fine Art in London, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan. Waller has participated in several select summer and exchange programs, including the Chelsea College of Arts and Slade School of Fine Art in London, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan. Waller has been subject to solo exhibitions at Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY; Del Deo & Barzune, New York, NY; and Michael Maloney Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA. In 2017, Waller was invited to participate in the Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts at The American Academy of Arts and Letters, was chosen as an Art Award winner. Waller has also participated in group exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX;  Fernberger Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; PHIL, Los Angeles, CA; Michael Maloney Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA; Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY; Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL; and Chandler Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, among others. Waller lives and works in Los Angeles.

Patrick Dunford’s watercolors of abandoned rail hoppers consider the shifting role of industry in the American landscape. Once symbols of modernity, these hulking forms now sit in quiet decline, slowly yielding to rust, weather, and encroaching vegetation. Dunford was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Dunford completed his BFA at University of Manitoba, Winnipeg in 2005, and completed his MFA at Concordia University in Montreal in 2012. Dunford’s solo exhibitions include those at Norberg Hall (Calgary, Alberta); Best Practice (San Diego, California); Jarvis Hall Gallery (Calgary, Alberta); Galerie Laroche/Joncas (Montreal, Quebec); and Semai Gallery (Winnipeg, Manitoba). Dunford has been awarded Winnipeg Art Council Individual Artist Grant, the Faculty of Fine Arts Fellowship, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, and the Mitch Gowler Memorial Award, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB. Dunford has also attended the Deep Bay Artist Residency, Manitoba Art Council, Wasagaming, Manitoba, and delivered a guest lecture at University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana in 2020. Dunford lives and works between Moorhead, Minnesota and the Canadian Shield in Ontario, Canada.